The Green Party of Philadelphia has been very active since the last Green Party of Pennsylvania (GPPA) Delegate Meeting on March 21, 2015, in State College, PA. We have focused our efforts on outreach to Philadelphia’s voters and on collecting nomination signatures for our two local candidates.From March 21 through March 25, GPOP members participated in the Voters March across Philadelphia to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Voters March in Selma, AL. This event was organized by Green Party candidate Glenn Davis and endorsed by GPOP.

On March 25, 13 people attended the GPOP General Membership Meeting. They elected delegates to GPPA for one-year terms. Those delegates will be Kristin Combs, Alex Gillett, Eric Hamell, Hillary Kane, Chris Robinson and Galen Tyler. Richard Kane was elected to be an alternate delegate. Chris Robinson reported the results of this election to the GPPA Chair. Minutes of this meeting can be found here, http://www.gpop.org/news/?cat=17.

On March 28, GPOP members participated in the monthly demonstration against a drone-warfare command center under construction at the Horsham Air Reserve Station (formerly the Willow Grove Naval Air Station) in Montgomery County. We were joined by Greens from Delaware, Lancaster and Montgomery Counties. One third of the demonstrators were Green Party members. Later on March 28, GPOP members attended the Beef & Beer Fundraiser for the May Day Festival (see below). We had a good turnout and collected nomination signatures while partying.

In early April, GPOP Chair Glenn Davis was elected to the board of the Philadelphia Unemployment Project (PUP), http://www.philaup.org/.

At the GPOP City Committee Meeting on April 8, there was a discussion of where to host the next GPPA Delegates Meeting. Philadelphia County had been asked by the last GPPA Delegate Meeting to host this meeting because GPPA Delegates wanted to assist the campaigns of Kristin Combs for Philadelphia City Council Member at Large and Glenn Davis for Philadelphia City Commissioner. We began the task of finding a location, coordinating with the two campaign committees and planning entertainment for the visiting Greens.

On April 19, Chris Robinson notified the GPPA Chair that GPOP had reserved the Northern Liberties Neighbors Association, http://www.nlna.com, for the GPPA Delegate Meeting on May 30. Jay Sweeney then notified GPOP by telephone that the GPPA Steering Committee had changed the site of the 5/30 Delegate Meeting to Swarthmore, PA.

On April 25, GPOP members attended the monthly demonstration against a drone-warfare command center under construction in the Horsham, Montgomery County (see first March 28 entry for details). This time, only one fifth of the demonstrators were Green Party members. The demonstration organizers asked Chris Robinson to contact other Greens to stimulate greater participation. Chris sent an email to lists hosted by the Green Party of Bucks, Delaware, Lancaster and Montgomery Counties.

On May 1, GPOP members attended the May Day Festival in Clark Park, University City. They tabled and collected nomination signatures. Vivek Ananthan deserves applause as an organizer of this event. The May Day Festival was endorsed by GPOP and also by GPPA.

On May 2, GPOP tabled at Mount Airy Day in northwest Philadelphia. We collected nomination signatures, handed out GPOP literature, and shook hands with all of the candidates for Mayor of Philadelphia.

On May 13, the GPOP City Committee heard reports from the Davis and Combs campaigns, planned the next General Membership Meeting, and agreed to a new fundraising plan. Our fundraising will be centered on phone banking and a new Green Night Out diner/social.

We hope that other Green Party chapters will let members of GPOP know of their events by posting to our discussion list, . Only members may post, but that is not difficult if you follow the east directions under “Join Group.”
Thank you,
Chris Robinson, 215-843-4256
City Committee Member at Large
Green Party of Philadelphia (GPOP)http://www.gpop.org